Serena Williams among 13 Grand Slam champs in US Open women’s field

United States’ Serena Williams holds her second place trophy after losing to Romania’s Simona Halep in the women’s singles final match on day twelve of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Saturday, July 13, 2019. Halep defected Williams 6-2/6-2. (AP Photo/Tim Ireland)

NEW YORK — Serena Williams will try again for a record-equaling 24th major title as one of 13 Grand Slam women’s champions who gained direct entry into the U.S. Open.

The top 98 men and 102 women based on this week’s world rankings were automatically entered Wednesday into the field for the final major of the year, which will be played Aug. 26 through Sept. 8.

Williams lost to Simona Halep on Saturday in the Wimbledon final. She also lost last year in the final at Flushing Meadows to Naomi Osaka of Japan, leaving her one behind Margaret Court’s total of 24 Grand Slam titles.

Along with Williams, Halep and Osaka, the rest of the Grand Slam champions in the women’s field are No. 1 Ashleigh Barty, past U.S. Open champions Venus Williams, Sloane Stephens, Angelique Kerber, Maria Sharapova, Petra Kvitova, Victoria Azarenka, Caroline Wozniacki, Garbine Muguruza and Jelena Ostapenko.

Both fields will be rounded out by 16 players from the U.S. Open qualifying tournament and eight wild cards.